Gyula Madarász

Gyula János István Madarász (3 May 1858 – 29 December 1931), also known as Julius von Madarász or Julius Madarász von Nemeskisfalud, was a Hungarian ornithologist and nature artist, who worked at the Hungarian National Museum. He founded several Hungarian bird journals and a number of subspecies of bird carry his name, including Chloris chloris madaraszi, Colluricincla megarhyncha madaraszi, Eremopterix leucotis madaraszi, Xanthotis flaviventer madaraszi. A parrot species Psittacella madaraszi is also named after him.

Early life and education Born in Pest, Madarász came from a wealthy family of minor nobility. His parents were Zsigmond Ede Madarász who had studied law and Szerafine Szabadffy. Because he was financially independent, he could devote his entire life to scientific work. He went to the Catholic Gymnasium in Pest and then the Piarist Gymnasium in Budapest (1877). After that he attended the University of Budapest, first studying medicine, and then zoology. In 1880, he completed a doctoral thesis on the anatomy of birds of the family Paridae under professor Tivadar Margó (1816–1896).

Scientific career Starting in 1879, Madarász was an employee of the Hungarian National Museum. He worked there until his retirement in 1915, ultimately serving as the director of the ornithology department. During his tenure, he vastly increased the size of the collection through his own efforts and through purchases. Madarász travelled to every part of Hungary over the course of his career, and authored a number of authoritative works on the birds of central Europe.

Madarász also undertook collecting trips and expeditions around western Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, making him one of the first Hungarian ornithologists to extend his studies beyond the local avifauna. On an 1895–96 expedition to Ceylon, he collected specimens of at least 125 species. In 1911–12, he travelled through Sudan to the Blue Nile, but he had to cut the trip short when he came down with malaria. He published a monograph entitled The Birds of Cyprus in 1904, and wrote several publications cataloging the birds collected by an expedition led by Sámuel Fenichel and Lajos Bíró in New Guinea. He described several species collected by him and by other ornithologists, among these species the green-breasted pitta and Szechenyi's monal-partridge. In total, he published over 150 ornithological works.

Artistic work

Madarász was tutored in painting by Antal Ligeti, who also worked at the Hungarian National Museum. Madarász's landscape paintings and paintings of animals were exhibited in the National Salon and National Art Gallery in Budapest, and he also mostly illustrated his ornithological articles and books himself. He also married his daughter Margit in 1883. They divorced in 1894 and he married Maria Reichel (1877–1954) in 1894 (after whom he named Bradypterus lopezi mariae). After divorcing in 1919 he married Rozália Kolarits.

He died in Budapest after a long illness and he was buried in the Kerepesi Cemetery.